FEARLESS FRIDAY: The keys to Motivation

I want to talk about the four key things that you need in order to hold a positive perspective, keep your focus and stay motivated during these challenging times.

 I’ve had a few clients this week talk about how they feel like they’ve lost their motivation right now and lost their energy because of all this stress of Covid uncertainty weighing them down.

It’s important to realise that you’ve not actually ‘lost’ anything. What happens in chaos is that our brains are built to focus on little immediate things in order to keep us safe. So getting your house in order or taking care of one small problem at hand is achievable, but big picture long term thinking tends to fade more into the background.

You can still have purpose and motivation therefore but it will take more work to rev it. Think of it like this - when it’s warm and wonderful outside you only need to throw one log on the fire but when it’s wild and wintery then you need a good few more logs to make you warm.

So what are those extra logs needed to stoke your fire of motivation?

Motivation isn’t something that you have instantly. It’s something that you pick up by momentum. First you need to summon the will to act. Then you need to do something. Then you pick up momentum and only then do you have motivation.

Here’s the four things you need in place for motivation to happen long term

1.    Ambition

 There needs to be ambition or a desire, hunger, wanting, a purpose in place, to begin with. Without a will to do something more, to change or a desire to shift and take action then there can be no motivation.

It’s also important for you to have a positive relationship with ambition and not see it as a dirty word. Ambition for you and your family is fine. Unchecked ambition and seeking power over others however are when it’s not okay.

To fire up your ambition you need to get close to your goals on every day. Write them down, visualise their outcomes and work towards them. To stoke the fire of motivation you need to have your goals and ambitions front of mind.

2.    Expectancy

It’s all well and good to have ambitions and goals but without an expectancy and belief that you can really make them happen then you’ll never feel motivated to work towards them.

You have to have more than just faith or hope in your ambitions. You have to genuinely believe that you’re worthy and capable of them. You need an expectation that you’ll make this happen.

So if you expect a goal or ambition to come true then you visualise it, you think about it, you make a plan, you get your brain primed and then you take action!

3.    Effort

There’s no momentum when nothing is happening. An object at rest stays at rest until acted upon by another force. And that force in this case is willpower.

The hard work and effort needed to take small steps every day is what starts the momentum and then feel motivated. Then the next day you see the small progress that you’ve made and you feel pulled towards doing more of that and then you get motivated again. That’s how the science works.

So if you want motivation you must first allow ambition. Then you need to get close to your goals by every day visualising them, thinking about them and planning the small action steps needed for them. Every day you take some small steps towards them and then every day you feel a little more driven and motivated to keep going

4.    Service to others

This final element is a crucial one especially for the days when you feel like you can’t even get out of bed. Humans are hardwired to do more for others than yourself so tap into this and be of service to others.

Send a nice voice text to five friends and watch how this changes your attitude and energy. By acknowledging and appreciating others we turn the focus away from ourselves for a moment and become focused on others. When we do this we are meeting our needs for connection and appreciation and these are great drivers to move us forward.

Motivation isn’t rocket science. It’s a simple step by step process to create momentum. We are all carrying heavy Covid loads on our shoulders right now so I hope these reminders of how to connect to your purpose and dreams and take small actions has been useful.